I bought some ND filters after reading about the benefits on line.  But I can not get anywhere near the recommended settings.  I am shotting at 3840x2160 at 24 fps so, from what I have read am ideally looking at and ISO of 100-200 and a shutter speed of 50.  However with the darkest filter I have (ND32) this is massively over exposed (see screen cap from a video).  Infact I need to adjust the shutter speed to about 640 to get a good exposure.

The other setting are Video format MP4, Pal, Whiote Bal = Sunny, sytle custom all -1, colour Dlike

The filters I bought are Neewer ND4 - 32

Any advice?

Jim

Are you using autoexposure? If so, the ISO is probably automatically increasing until it maxes out. Make sure you use manual settings with the ND filters. Set ISO at 100, adjust shutter to get a properly exposed image/video and then put ND on and adjust the shutter speed by the required number of stops for the selected ND filter to compensate. Hope this makes sense and helps.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-147631-1-3.html
Are you trying for some special effect?
Have you researched the reason for fitting ND filters?

Hi Guys

Thanks for the fast reply.

Fosibie -  I am using Manual exposure,  and set ISO to 100.  The attached image is with an ND32 filter attached and a shutter speed of 50.  In order to get a properly exposed image I need to change the shutter speed to 640+

Do you think it could be that I have cheap filters?  Is there alot of difference?  These are the ones I bought

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/prod ... 0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

ALAN -  Thanks for your message .  The main reason for experimenting with filters is that I am not happy with the videos I am getting from the mavic and want to try to improve them.  I see that you are not a fan of ND filters,  

Jim Russell Posted at 2018-5-10 07:08
Hi Guys

Thanks for the fast reply.

Hi Jim,
I have ND filters. I tried them. Like you are discovering, they are not 'fit and forget' items.
I have no wish to upset devotees or suggest they are useless. They have their uses and many vids are made using them.
When you are more familiar with them in action, you might be a lover or less.
All my video showed was there was no need for them in the conditions prevailing.

Apart from the over exposure issue, and that is not the fault of the filters, what is wrong with your videos?
Perhaps if we could see something specific, people here could and would love to help.

Just in case you are being plagued with an issue I recently experienced with exposure in Auto mode, I will briefly mention the problem and cure provided by DJI.
Problem:- very limited auto compensation of exposure. The system was either far too exposed or under exposed for scenes that worked fine before the .003 update.
Solution:- Reinstall the firmware to the current. It was .003 at the time.
Reset the camera. There is control switch in the camera menu for that.
Re calibrate the IMU and gimbal and then go through the menu putting the settings you prefer. (Because they were all set back to defaults)
This made auto work as it should.

A tip I found useful is to set to auto, and get lined up for your still or video. If the scene needs to be pro rather than an aimless fly over, switch to manual and adjust accordingly. There might have to be some in flight tweaking.
I find this the easiest way to work, because I can concentrate on the navigation and composition, without messing about with exposure. I save manual for the real shot.

Hi Alan

Again thanks for your reply and the tips which I will certainly review and look into further.   

Let me tell you a little about my Journey with the Mavic Pro which I have had for about 18 months.  This was my first drone and the only reason I could justify such a huge expense on a "toy" was because, at the time, I was a partner in a building business and it was a great way to showcase our projects.  My business partner continued with another business and is using the footage

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGsFXSq4WxW8-e1x7HtQ27A

As you can see the finished results were ok (and used some still shots as well as Mavic footage).  

Anyway,  I left the business for personally reasons last summer and was determined that my £1000+ purchase would not just gather dust so I have been using it for personal projects and enjoy the process of both flying the drone and producing the video's.

I also see this as a great opportunity to learns some new skills with the Adobe Creative  applications such as Premier Pro and After effects.  One of my main criticisms with my footage is that colours often look a bit flat or the exposure is not that great,  and this seems to offer opportunities to improve these issues.   During this learning process I have seen a lot of YouTube Videos that sing the praises of ND filters -  hence my recent purchase

Click Here

In most of these videos the presenter will set the drone to manual settings add an ND16 filter and then be able to easily achieve the desired effect with a shutter speed of around 50 with an iso of 100-200.  My experience was not like this as the short clip below highlights.

Click Here

This was filmed at 3840x2160,  24 fps so, ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 50. The other setting are Video format MP4, Pal, White Bal = Sunny, sytle custom all -1, colour Dlike. However with the darkest filter I have (ND32) this is massively over exposed .  In fact I need to adjust the shutter speed to about 640 to get a good exposure.

In summary,  I am experiencing with ways to improve my footage and at the same time learning some new skills with Premier Pro.  As part of this experimentation I want to see if the use of ND filters are beneficial.  However,  I am frustrated as I can not seem to get even close to the correct exposure which others seem to easily achiveve.  Incidentally I followed the following video and tried to duplicate what the presented did



In my video link above it was a very sunny day,  however I living is Scotland so not a climate know for intense sunshine :-)

Did I just buy crappy filters?

I look forward to any guidance you can offer

Hey Jim!

So with the Mavic Air you might need up to an ND64 (6-stop filter) at ISO 100 to get shutter to 1/50th. The density ratings on your filters could be off, because with an ISO at 100 your shutter shouldn't be over 1/120th with an ND32 (5-stop) filter on, even on a bright day in the snow.

Happy to help with any other questions you have!
-Jeff from PolarPro

Well, first thing to do is to verify your filter is what it advertised to be. Essentially you are verifying that you indeed have a 5-stop ND32 filter:

1) Set everything to manual: aperture (does not apply to MP), shutter speed, white balance, ISO. Set metering mode to center spot (skip if this does not apply).

2) Point your camera to a static scene and adjust all the parameters for a proper exposure.

3) Put on the ND32 filter, with your camera pointed to the same scene, do you need to increase your shutter speed by 5 stops in order to obtain the same proper exposure? If the shutter speed is 1/4000 sec without the filter, with ND32, you should need a 1/125 shutter speed to get the same exposure.

Do expect slight variation maybe by 1/2 stop or so.
-----
Alex Jiang Photography

Rent is right. You should do that test and find out whether your filter's nd rating is off, or one of your camera settings is not being applied (I would say iso, from what you explain). I almost never need more than nd32 to achieve 1/50 or 1/60 on very sunny days.

However, with nd filters and slow shutter speeds you will not change the image contrast (or flatness), but just the motion blur. See this explanation:

You could somewhat increase contrast or vividness with nd+polarisation, but it's not always guaranteed. I would either increase contrast in post-production or choose a more aggressive picture style.

Thanks Guys I will test and reply back with the findings

Hi Jim,
I am not a lover of the ND filter. Lets get that clear at the start.
There is no reason for a perfectly functional MP not to be able to take clear, sharp and well coloured video in sunlight of any intensity, assuming there is good colour in the scene. Acres of snow or sand excepted.
All this without any filters, ND or polarising.
So lets start from there. No filters. You can add them later.
To start with, you don't even need to fly the drone. Switch everything on, but don't start the motors. Position it where you have a good scene with equal bright sky and ground.
Go to your video settings and try each one, whilst recording video. Make a note of the settings in relation to the video.
At home, you can run the vid and decide what looks good to you.
Colour will be a personal thing.
In auto, try the D-Log The colour will be washed out, but the sky and ground should be correctly exposed. (Set Zebra stripes ON to check this) If not correctly exposed, adjust the exposure compensation till it is.
D-Log takes the brightest and darkest part of a scene and works out an even distribution, within the camera's ability. It is intended for experienced post-processor people to adjust the colours to their will.
Try D-Cinelike. This is a colourful setting, one I use a lot. It tends to allow the sky to over expose. Tweaks on the exposure compensation may help there. My preference, based on the type of subject I shoot, is to note the auto settings, switch to manual and adjust to get exposure perfect. A low ISO first then faster shutter if necessary.
None setting, in my experience causes the most problems with exposure.
Remember, an over exposed area will lose detail that cannot be recovered by post processing, so, in that sense, darker is better. The detail will most likely, still be there.
Once you have the settings as you want them, point the drone up to get more sky and decide what needs to be changed to compensate. Then try pointing down at the ground for the opposite effect.
Perhaps you realise that by not flying, you can concentrate fully on the camera settings.
I hope this helps. If not, then you may have a fault with the drone system. Consider the reset advice which came from DJI.
ND or Polarising filters will not cure the issues you have with exposure.